Marked for Tomás Basualdo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jul 2028
Mathis Coudour damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Exeter City can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Exeter City have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Arsenal have accepted the money. What Exeter City do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market3 Jul 2028
The offer from Rotherham United for Sonny Cox was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.8M — a club that wants Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko enough to be asked twice.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Belli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Exeter City asked and Swansea City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
George Brown in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Exeter City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jun 2028
Thomas Martin damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market26 Jun 2028
Johnly Yfeko hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Exeter City can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to Arsenal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market26 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Jakke Van Britsom again, and this time the name on the line is Twente. Exeter City are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market26 Jun 2028
Huddersfield Town paid $1.3M and Exeter City took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market26 Jun 2028
Charlton Athletic pay $240.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Exeter City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakke Van Britsom is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tomás Basualdo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Tom Smith's mistake
-
Squad
This league is too small for George Brown
-
The dugout
Sullay Kaikai has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
Luca Schirone breaks a bone — 25 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ricardo Apolinário commits to Exeter City for another 4 years.
Squad15 May 2028
Tomás Basualdo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Callum Maycock, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 May 2028
96% of the income goes out in wages at Exeter City
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout15 May 2028
Johnly Yfeko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johnly Yfeko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 May 2028
Something was said to Emmanuel Sol-Loza and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout15 May 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Malcolm Ebiowei is on it.
Market15 May 2028
Still no signature from Will Evans
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Exeter City could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Apr 2028
62 days out for Luca Schirone after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Exeter City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Apr 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match8 Apr 2028
Nobody wants to play Exeter City right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ollie O'Neill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match8 Apr 2028
A 3‑2 win over Barnet, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Corey Addai gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.61, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Apr 2028
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Daniel James in the middle of it, and Barnet unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Luca Schirone out for 77 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Exeter City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces27 Mar 2028
Supporters organise against the Exeter City board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market27 Mar 2028
Will Evans has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Exeter City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Francesco Belli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tomás Basualdo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamadou Sangaré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Tom Smith's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Cambridge United next, and one man in the Exeter City dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 Jan 2028
Anger at Exeter City spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market3 Jan 2028
Johnly Yfeko hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Exeter City can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jan 2028
The bid was some way short and Exeter City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Tomás Basualdo pops up at the right end — 7.72
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Exeter City know it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Ollie O'Neill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Dec 2027
A 3‑1 win over Swindon Town, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Exeter City asked and Norwich City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Nov 2027
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Exeter City found something the first half had given no notice of, and Crawley Town could not hold what they had.
Market29 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Exeter City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.33, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Ollie O'Neill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match27 Nov 2027
A 3‑2 win over Crawley Town, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Francesco Belli
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑2, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Exeter City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Exeter City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Tomás Basualdo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Lucas Larroza falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market15 Nov 2027
Alfonso Luna is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Exeter City has been clear about where Alfonso Luna stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Exeter City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Exeter City will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Newport County in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Market2 Aug 2027
Ollie O'Neill hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Exeter City can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ollie O'Neill and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Stevenage wanted more than $160.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Exeter City asked and Portsmouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Exeter City are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Nathan Stewart leaves with $61.7K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Exeter City and Liverpool have settled on $6.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
No deal for Will Fish at that price
Exeter City offered $1.1M; Cardiff City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Ollie O'Neill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Everton have kept their man, and Exeter City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johnly Yfeko, and the manager let it.
Market12 Jul 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Exeter City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Larroza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Luke Le Roux is in the works
Exeter City have made the call to Portsmouth. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.